[TheForge] Blacksmiths in space!

[blcksmth]

In the last few years our blacksmiths group has gained a number of new 
members from watchers of Forged in Fire.
When asked, they almost always want to make a knife of some sort. Some 
of them have become active members
and some seem to vanish after a period of time.

Because I am the webmaster for our website  - www.nob-blacksmiths.org  
-  I get the first contact via e-mail
or a phone call from someone interested in blacksmithing. If the TV show 
is their source of interest, I try to politely
explain that a quality knife is not a beginning project and that the TV 
show can be very misleading since they rarely
show the complete heat treatment process and that process is very 
critical to a usable blade. I then invite them to
attend any of our meetings to get a chance to hammer some hot iron, get 
a feel for the process and talk to more
experienced smiths with different opinions. A few of their first 
experiences at the forge have been good learning
events for both them and our long time members. Passing along knowledge 
is always a good thing.





On 1/16/2023 8:05 AM, Bruce wrote:
> Gang,
>
> Over the past few years I've been visiting Reddit blacksmithing sites
> (subreddits).  There are lots of real requests for information, but the
> "amusing" ones are the guys who start with zero knowledge (like maybe their
> "education" was from Forged in Fire shows) and proceed to ask the most
> ridiculous questions.  That alone would not be a problem, but virtually the
> same questions occur time after time from different newbies. I do what I
> can to set them straight, and my efforts are often rewarded, but other
> times it's an uphill battle.
>
> As far as in-person training, I find that teaching a person to swing a
> hammer "properly" (i.e., effectively) is often (usually) the first
> problem.  Related is the fact that some guys just don't get it that a 5-lb
> hammer is not the best one to use all the time.
>
> The big issue locally is a drop-off in membership and attendance.  I see
> lots of interest online, but little in person.  Either of two things may
> have precipitated this:  the pandemic (a significant contributor) and our
> switching to an emailed newsletter (simply for economic reasons).  Then on
> top of that is that I resigned as newsletter editor because I just had "too
> many irons in the fire" and was getting insufficient assistance from
> others, and nobody picked up the gauntlet.  Our Board is meeting
> (virtually) tonight, and this will be prominent in the discussions.
>
> Bruce
> NJBA
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-- 


Bob Willman
The Eagle's Anvil
Bowling Green, Ohio
WB8NQW


No government can continue good but under control of the people; and ... their
minds are to be informed by education what is right and what wrong; to be encouraged
in habits of virtue and to be deterred from those of vice ... These are inculcations necessary
to render the people a sure basis for the structure and order of government.


Thomas Jefferson